Musings of an Australian living, travelling and crafting in Papua New Guinea

I’ve been really stalled with playing in my art journal because I am intimidated by the huge expanse of white on a double page spread.

Last night it occurred to me that I could do a single page. There was no rule that said I had to fill both pages. (Yeah, I’m a bit slow on the uptake sometimes…). So while chatting with my brother via facebook I got out my pencil and set to work. I was inspired by an image I pinned from Totally Tracy.

This is how my page turned out.

Yes, I’m aware that it’s highly derivative, but I’m still finding my feet art-wise after being told throughout school that I had no artistic ability…

I’m happy with how it turned out and I’m tossing up ideas for a similar yet different page to go opposite it.

It’s been a long time since I did any scrapbooking, but I couldn’t pass up the sketch on Let’s Get Sketchy this week.

Here’s the inspiration sketch.

Here’s my take on it.

This is an old photo, I’m trying to scrapbook myself more and shift some of the back log of photos. At the beginning of 2006 we packed up our belongings and moved to South Africa for 6 years. We had a stop-over in Singapore along the way and this picture was taken in the orchid garden.

I used a stencil to draw the guidelines for the title and journalling and then hand lettered them. I also added some stenciled flowers and just the tiniest bit of bling.

The butterflies were black and left over from another project. The black was too startk and so I gave them a dab of white paint to soften them up a little bit.

In a little while we are due to take our mid-year leave. For the past few years we have headed to Australia. This year things are a little more complicated due to Gorgeous Man having commitments for work here in Papua New Guinea and then in Fiji and the Solomon Islands that make it difficult to take the full leave period in Australia. So after much looking at the logistics and research on Gorgeous Man’s part (he’s a great holiday planner) we decided that Gorgeous Girl and I would accompany him on the Fiji leg of his work trip and we’d all go to Fiji a few days early before his work stuff started so that we could reset as a family after the busy semester. It’s been a bit of an adjustment having Gorgeous Man in a new role that keeps him very busy and me returning to full-time work.

So, we have two days in Australia before heading to Fiji. Last night I made a list of all the things we need to do in those two days. I like lists. I will carry this around in my purse and cross it off as I go.

1. Catch-up with family

2. Haircut and colour Ruth

3. Haircut Gorgeous Girl

4. leg wax

5. Buy – formal dress or top (Gorgeous Man has had few invitations to fancy work things and I need to expand the top end of my wardrobe.

11. Buy school shoes for Gorgeous Girl – the ones we bought locally have fallen apart after 6 months

12. Buy school socks for Gorgeous Girl – she’s particular about the type of sock she likes…

13. Buy a bicycle tire tube so Gorgeous Girl can ride her bike again – the current one has been patched so many times it looks like a quilt.

14. Snorkelling masks for Gorgeous Girl and me. Did you know that you can buy snorkelling masks with prescription lenses? This means I’ll actually be able to see the fish and not just faint blobs of colour.

15. Long pants for Gorgeous Girl.

16. Jumper (sweater) for Gorgeous Girl. It was cold enough here to wear a sweater this morning and her arms were poking out of the sleeves.

17. Buy lipstick and perfume (will do this in duty free I think)

18. See the dr (me, just a quick check-up)

19. Deliver the white hippo

20. Post the grey hippo to the USA

21. Post present to Grandma.

To this list Gorgeous Girl has added go to McDonalds and have sushi (not at McDonalds). I’ve also added have coffee from my favourite coffee shop.

Looking at the list it looks like we’ll be spending the bulk of our Australian time at the mall. We’ll need the holiday after that.

The hexagon quilt has been sadly neglected this year. A few days ago I pulled it out and inspired by Faeries and Fibres decided to try a new (to me) way of adding the hexagons. You see I’ve been adding each hexagon individually and it’s been very slow. However, sewing a strip of hexagons and then adding that strip has significantly speeded up the process.

I now have a square top.

This is going to be a queen-sized top, so there’s a long way to go.

But I’m pleased with how it is coming together. It’s a riot of colour.

Gorgeous Man asked if I would be doing another one and I replied that I would. But I would use only one pattern for the quilt next time. Perhaps it’s my sewing, but each of the patterns make a slightly different sized hexagon which makes challenges putting them together.

I’m now putting this together so quickly that I need to prep some more pieced hexagons to add.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I have enough yarn left over to (hopefully) make a matching hat.

The arty tree shot…

And with the sun shining through

It’s still unblocked. I’m going to leave it unblocked because I’ve got fancy new blocking wires on their way to me. Hopefully pick up in Australia on our next visit and anything blocked here and put into storage will need to be reblocked before wearing in December/January as things go musty. So I’m going to block it at a later date. Hopefully it will grow a little in the blocking process.

Yarn is a silk/merino blend and is a navajo ply. It’s been languishing marinating in the stash for at least 4 years. I think it was worth the wait though.

There is a birthday coming up in my circle of friends and family and so I broke out the paper crafting supplies to make this little card. I’m really pleased with the simplicity and clean lines.

This used up scraps, so doesn’t really help my stash reduction, though it does help with the scrap reduction I guess.

I was planning on doing more scrapbooking today, it’s a public holiday, but it’s just too hot and when it’s this hot I leave sweaty marks on the pages which kind of ruins the effect.

I’ve been sick and so has Gorgeous Girl. I had a few days off work and aside from a lingering sore throat feel like I’m back to my old self. I always know when I’m really sick, no knitting happens when I sit down. Picking the knitting back up is a sure sign I’m on the mend. I’m currently making a lace shawl in handspun which is turning out really beautifully, only about 10 more rows to go. Really hoping that I don’t run out of yarn as it is one of a kind yarn (though since it was a club yarn I do have some commercial yarn that was dyed in the same colours as the roving that I could substitute if push came to shove). Hopefully I’ll have finished object pictures to show soon.